AN: That was NOT a reference to sex, at least never in front of or to his parents… The pills thing… I can't defend, really. How else am I supposed to do it, you know?

Chapter Twenty-Three: Complaining

At Shiz, Elphaba often woke in the middle of the night to the sound of their neighbor's baby boy crying. Sometimes she'd baby-sit the boy during the day, when she didn't have classes, but other times she could not stand him. Nights like this, for instance. She sat up, yawned, and got out of bed wearily.

"Fae?" Fiyero sat up. "Come back to bed."

"Why? I can't sleep." Elphaba rubbed her eyes. "If it's going to be like this when we have children…"

"You'll have to deal with it," Fiyero finished. "But that won't be for a while, and we won't have classes to deal with. We have life sciences tomorrow morning. At least try and sleep."

She moved towards the corner of the room that was their kitchen and poured herself a glass of milk. "I guess. Doesn't it bother you?"

"Only when you leave me sleeping by myself."

"Do you really need me to get to sleep, Yero?"

"Yes. You beside me comforts me. It makes me think that everything's going just fine, when I've got you. When you're not next to me, I get nervous. Is that so wrong?"

She shook her head. "What would you ever do if I hadn't married you?" Tiredly, she looked out the window.

He got up and joined her. "We must look funny."

"Well, we're standing naked at a window. I would hope at three in the morning no one is looking at our window." Elphaba turned to him and smiled.

"Maybe we should get back to sleep. Even if it's difficult."

"I might just stand here for a while." Elphaba mumbled.

"I wouldn't want anyone seeing you but me." Fiyero said, pulling her out of the way of the window.

"You're possessive."

"I love you. It's only natural. Now come on."

"Do you really need me that much?" Elphaba glared at him.

"I do. I honestly do. I need to hold you or I'll wake up thinking something's wrong." He dragged her to the bed. "So just lie here, even if you can't sleep. For me?"

"I married a crazy man. What was I thinking?"

"You were thinking that you love me more than anything and now you're going to come back to bed so we can get some sleep before class. Maybe even wake up in the morning and make love, too."

"That sounds nice," Elphaba murmured softly, pulling the blankets up.

"Well, good. But you need to sleep so we can do that. I don't want you falling asleep during sex or during class."

"Dr. Nikidik wouldn't even notice, Yero." However, she crawled into bed.

"Well, just try, Fae, okay?"

"Mmmm," she slipped into his arms, "Okay."

The next thing she knew was being shoved out the door. "Fae, we have to go to class!"

"I'm walking, okay? I didn't get much sleep." She trudged wearily through the grounds. "I don't see why I go to class in the first place. I could pass the final in my sleep. It's not as if Dr. Nikidik knows anything, either."

"Here she goes again," he mumbled.

"Yero!" At this point they'd reached the lecture hall, to Fiyero's delight, for he did not have to answer to Elphaba's anger.

"As I was saying… could you two please come to class on time? Or at least one of you?" Dr. Nikidik looked down his nose at them. "I do not appreciate my lectures being interrupted. Why must you two always insist on being late together?"

"Well, we're kind of living together, so when she's late, so am I." Fiyero replied, pushing Elphaba to their seats.

"Living together, eh?"

"We're married." Elphaba snapped. "I'm sorry Dr. Nikidik, it's my fault. Our neighbor's baby was up crying all night last night and I, unlike my husband, don't sleep through that sort of thing."

"What's it like, being married students?"

"I don't think that this has anything to do with life sciences, Dr. Nikidik." Elphaba responded shortly.

"Well, it's your life, and marriage, many believe, is a science."

"We're doing just fine, thank you," Fiyero answered, sitting down. "You can go back to your lecture." He waited until Dr. Nikidik had begun talking again and then whispered to Elphaba, "You don't have to be so rude to him, he's just trying to be social."

"Well, I don't think he has to draw attention to us, okay?"

He knew she still harbored resentment at his replacing Dr. Dillamond and that nothing would make her warm up to the old man, so he didn't bother to push his argument. Instead, he rummaged through his book bag and took out his notebook and began taking notes. When he noticed Elphaba not moving, he prodded her. "Aren't you going to take notes, oh studious one?"

"Can I just borrow yours?" She asked sleepily. "I'm too worn out. I can't even think straight." Slowly, her head came to rest on his shoulder.

"If you can decipher my scribble, go ahead." He didn't know if she heard, her eyes had already closed. One arm the desk taking notes, he slipped the other around her to keep her comfortable.

"Thanks, I appreciate that," she mumbled. Whether she appreciated his placing an arm around her or his allowing her to borrow his notes, it was indistinguishable.

He nudged her again. "Fae, you can't just sleep through class."

"Don't tell me what to do. You're the one who woke me up an hour after I'd finally gotten to bed and begged me to make love." She hissed.

"And you looked at me, licked those succulent little lips of yours and climbed on top of me all too readily. Don't think I don't hear what you sigh under your breath, Fae. I heard you mutter something about there being 'nothing better than waking up to make love passionately like this'." He said into her ear. "I heard that. I hear a lot of the things you say, too. But I'm nice enough not to repeat them right now."

Elphaba seemed to be awake then, for she slapped Fiyero hard across the face so loudly the noise echoed in the room and Dr. Nikidik stopped mumbling. The old man looked up and said, "Is there something going on back there?"

Fiyero held his face in his hands. "I think I'm okay."

"If you are," Elphaba growled, "I'll hit you again."

"Maybe you two should get the notes for this lecture from someone later. I don't need you disrupting my lesson with your married troubles, okay?" Dr. Nikidik pointed at the door.

Elphaba and Fiyero, neither even looking towards the other, exited the classroom. They seemed to walk almost robotically down the stairs and towards their dorm room. Elphaba slammed the door when they entered. "You imbecile. If you ever, ever consider talking to me like that in public, no matter how quiet you think you are, I will not hesitate to do that ten times worse!"

"If you ever slap me in front of anyone, or slap me again," Fiyero answered angrily, "we can go back to separate dorms and forget this marriage. How does that sound?"

Elphaba blinked, not expecting Fiyero to be strong enough to make a threat so harsh. "We're fighting," she observed.

"Yes, yes we are. And if you don't promise me you won't do that again, we will be for quite a while."

"I won't do it again if you promise never to talk dirty like that to me again."

"That wasn't talking dirty! Do you listen to me in bed sometimes, Fae?"

"For public's sake, that was dirty, all right? I don't care what kinds of things you tell me when we're alone. You can be as blunt and erotic as you want when we're intimate, because then it's okay. But making any sort of comment like the one you made during class was not! For Oz's sake, even if I'm half-asleep, I'm still trying to learn, not trying to remember the sex we had this morning like you, Fiyero!"

"You brought it up." He said defensively. "I was only stopping you from blaming me for it."

"I only brought it up because it was partially the reason I was sleeping, which you were scolding me for. I don't regret it, necessarily. I had two orgasms, and I never regret that, but you don't seem to understand that I could've had those same orgasms with you after class, not at four thirty in the damned morning!"

"I'm sorry, okay? I was dreaming and you were in it and I woke up before…"

"You are such a male."

"Is that such a bad thing? If I wasn't, would you have been squealing this morning?"

"A woman would probably be more considerate, but truthfully, no, probably not. Only you can do that to me." She got a faraway look in her eyes and tried to snap herself back. "But this isn't about sex! This is about the way you speak to me and the way you treat me. I can't stand being woken in the middle of the night, no matter how good the sex may be."

"It was morning, not the middle of the night."

"Whatever." She looked at the clock. "Class is almost over. We should go apologize. I need an A in that class, regardless of the fact that I thoroughly believe you deserved that slap."

"I don't. I was just defending myself, as I said."

"I'm tired, Fiyero. Can you expect me to be rational?"

"I barely expect it when you're fully awake."

"Thanks. Thanks a lot." She began storming out of the room.

"Fae, wait!" He ran after her. "I… I'm sorry, okay? I don't believe I was wrong, but I'm sorry I upset you."

When she looked at him, he noticed that her eyes were shining as she fought back the bitter water that came to them. "I just don't want to fight right now, okay?"

"I don't, either. Let's just understand that you're tired and I'm male. There. Everything's understood. I love you, still."

"You love the woman who slapped you in the middle of life sciences class?"

"Hey, it got us out of class for a day. Why would I complain?"

She smiled. "I'm not," she kissed him quickly, "and neither are you."